Bhubaneswar: BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday sharpened his attack on the BJP-led Centre and Odisha govt, reiterating that amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act had undermined Odisha’s interests and accusing the Mohan Charan Majhi govt of failing on governance, welfare delivery and law and order.Launching the BJD’s month-long Janasampark padayatra on Gandhi Jayanti, observed from Oct 2 to Nov 2, Naveen claimed the Centre had curtailed Odisha’s rights over its mineral resources while BJP MPs from the state remained silent.“The central government has taken away the rights of Odisha’s residents over mines, and the Odisha government is silent. Twenty BJP MPs are silent on Odisha’s interests, but are ready to fight for mine owners,” he said.The former chief minister also alleged widespread administrative failures, citing delays in distribution of school textbooks, pension payments, flood relief, paddy procurement, recruitment examinations and financial management.“There are no textbooks for children. No pensions for the elderly. Farmers are distressed. Mothers are distressed. There is no law and order. Failure everywhere and mismanagement everywhere,” Naveen said, adding that the govt had failed to properly manage even the annual Rath Yatra.He further alleged that revenue collection was declining, budgeted funds remained unspent and the state’s debt burden was increasing. “Where is this money going?” he asked.Reiterating the party’s commitment to Odisha’s interests, Naveen said the BJD would intensify its political campaign in the coming days.The BJP, however, strongly rejected the allegations. Sambalpur MP and former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused Naveen and the BJD of misleading people on the MMDR issue and cited Thursday’s Orissa High Court judgment in the Vedanta bauxite case to counter the opposition’s claims.In a social media post, Pradhan said the court had rejected a private company’s claim for supply of 150 million tonnes of bauxite that had been linked to an allocation made during the previous BJD govt’s tenure. He argued that the verdict showed that “old promises over natural resources cannot override existing law”.Pradhan defended the Centre’s mining reforms, saying the Narendra Modi govt had brought in a transparent framework under the MMDR Act. He claimed amendments to mining rules had increased the benchmark price of bauxite, which, if implemented, would have benefited Odisha Mining Corporation and generated thousands of crores of rupees in additional revenue through royalty and other levies.The BJP MP also questioned letters written by Naveen to the Centre in 2020 seeking reconsideration of the pricing formula and alleged that the move would have benefited a private company at the cost of the state’s revenues. He asked the former chief minister to explain the rationale behind the decision and address questions over alleged revenue losses to Odisha.BJP spokesperson Tejeswar Parida said that while questioning the current govt, Naveen should answer the series of irregularities during his tenure as CM highlighted by the CAG recently, ranging from suspected fraud in building check dams to diversion of DMF funds to ineligible projects.
